Blind threaded fasteners and tools for installing them are known, and they involve fasteners which are intended for use on metal or plastic sheets or panels, particularly where one side of the sheet or panel is not readily accessible. The fasteners often involve an enlarged head, an internally threaded outer end, and an intermediate, thin-walled hollow tube interconnecting the head and the threaded outer portion. The fastener is mounted into a hole in the panel. A drive screw extends through the thin walled hollow tube and the drive screw is rotated to pull the threaded portion of the fastener toward the panel, with the result being that the thin walled tubular part of the fastener collapses, extending laterally outward beyond the hole in engagement with the panel, and the fastener is securely held in the panel by the head on the accessible side of the panel, and by the enlarged collapsed portion of the fastener on the inaccessible side of the panel.
Tools for installing blind fasteners of the type described above involve a drive screw as noted above, and a drive system which senses increased resistance to rotation of the drive screw after the fastener collapses. The direction of rotation of the drive screw is then reversed to withdraw the drive screw from the fastener.
Many different sizes of blind fasteners, or blind anchor nuts, are employed, and it is of course necessary to use different size drive screws to accommodate the different size blind fasteners. In addition, with the size of the drive screw changing, a corresponding new thread adaption kit is required; and this adaption kit may include a nose piece assembly, a bearing set and a drive adaptor to fit the drive screw. It is desirable to have a firm and positive drive when the blind fasteners are being secured in place, and it is also desirable to be able to quickly and conveniently change the thread adaption kit, when different size blind fasteners are to be secured in place. Up to the present time these desirable features have not been realized to the desired extent.